An announcement on the first private train firms to be nationalised is due this week, it can be revealed.
Rail Minister Lord Hendy said bringing rail firms under direct Government control would enable a “broken” system to be fixed for the benefit of passengers.
South Western Railway, which runs commuter trains in and out of Waterloo, could be the first – followed by c2c, which runs trains from Essex in and out of Fenchurch Street.
SWR’s contact ends next May, while c2c’s runs out in July. The announcement is due now that the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act has received Royal assent.
Asked if SWR would be first, Lord Hendy told The Standard last week: “The public ownership bill has been through Parliament – I took it through the Lords – and as soon as it’s law then you will hear shortly afterwards. SWR’s natural break is in May.”
He added: “Public ownership is part of the answer but it’s not the whole answer. But it is necessary and there are really good reasons for it.
“We have still got commercial confidentiality being used as a reason why the Government can’t access information on its own train services, which it’s paying for – that sort of nonsense.
“The full picture is a big railway bill to be taken through Parliament next year. There will be consultation on the big changes within it very shortly, and that will change the system that has been there for over 30 years – a massive change, and that will be good for the railway.
“We have got to fix this. The railway doesn’t serve the interests of passengers. It’s not creating growth, jobs and housing as it should. The [Secretary of State] and I are determined to change that.”
South Western Railway said it was committed to working with the Government and welcomed a “new era for the railways”.
Stuart Meek, South Western Railway’s interim managing director, told The Standard: “Our job at South Western Railway is to deliver a good service for our customers and our communities, day in, day out.
“We are committed to working with the Government, and what we are really excited about is the Government’s plan for rail travel to be top of the agenda again.
“We are really keen to make the offer more compelling than ever, to get people out of their cars and on to trains. We are really excited about this new era for the railways.”
Asked if renationalising the railways would improve services for passengers, Mr Meek said: “I think that would have to be a question for the Government.
“I’m committed, as the person running South Western Railway right now, to make my trains run on time, whoever owns the organisation.”
Tory critics have accused the Government of seeking to nationalise the better-performing firms first, such as Greater Anglia, while delaying the takeover of firms such as Avanti West Coast, which had its contract extended by the former Tory government despite concerns about its performance.
Lord Hendy appeared to criticise the three to six-year contract extension awarded to Avanti West Coast by the then Tory transport secretary Mark Harper in September 2023, saying: “The Government is committed to taking the franchises in without spending a penny more public money than we need to.
“Sadly, some of the worst-performing at the longest, which I think you can ask a question about why the contracts were extended or re-let in the way they were by the previous Government.
“But they are all coming to an end, either through contract termination or break clauses, and we are determined to change the system for the benefit of passengers and the economy.”
Four rail franchises have already been effectively nationalised after being brought under the Department for Transport’s “operator of last resort” due to previous failings - Southeastern, London North Eastern Railway, Northern and TransPennine Express.
Asked why he decided to become Rail Minister, Lord Hendy, who was an impartial chairman of Network Rail and previously worked for Labour and Tory mayors of London while TfL commissioner, said: “I took this job because reform is well overdue.
“I was at Network Rail for nine years, six of which we were waiting for reform to happen. The opportunity of helping it happen is too good to miss.
“This Government’s policy is entirely right. The system is broken. We have got to fix it for passengers, for better freight, but also because the railway delivers jobs, growth and housing and we have got to see that happen.”
He added: “[At TfL], I ran an integrated transport system that, where it went wrong today, you looked at what happened yesterday and fixed it for tomorrow. That is what we need at the railway.
“Running TfL was like that, and the railway should be like that. I want to see somebody in charge of this railway who has control of it, who wakes up every morning and says: ‘How can I do better for passengers? What can we fix?’ and not spend their whole time in a contractual morass.”
Last week SWR unveiled its new £1bn fleet of Arterio trains, which will boost capacity on its suburban network.
Five Arterios are already in service, serving the routes to Windsor & Eton Riverside and Shepperton, via Earlsfield, Kingston, Richmond, Twickenham and Wimbledon.
Over the next six months the Arterios will be added to routes to Dorking, Epsom, Guildford, Hampton Court and Reading.
Lord Hendy said: “They have got more capacity, they’re 10 coaches not eight coaches, they have proper passenger facilities and decent eco toilets, decent air conditioning and decent heating and you can get more people on them. That’s absolutely where we want to go with the railway.”
